The mobile market in Africa is booming, with over 500 million smartphones in circulation by 2020 up from just 90 million a decade prior. With over 800 million active mobile subscriptions against a population of 1.1bn the market potential for growth has still not yet become close to fully realised.
At the same time the state of E-commerce in developing countries currently caters almost exclusively to the top tiers of the economic pyramid. This therefore leaves little room for individuals and businesses that exist within the lower segments of the economy to reap the benefits offered by online transactions. This implies that E-commerce in developing countries is yet to realise its full potential in scale and impact unless it adapts to the masses who make up the bulk of the global populace.
We at Sky Garden intend to change this narrative by offering an inclusive, trusted and empowering business tool that not only breaks the barriers to trade but also fosters a bustling community that thrives on organic and sustainable economic growth for all. Due to the high penetration of internet enabled phones in the market, we have identified the opportunity to create a vibrant community where buyers and sellers can safely interact with each other via seamless and secure transaction processes.
Sky.Garden is a product distribution platform with advanced e-commerce capabilities built for mobile phones in Africa.
Anyone can upload products to the Sky.Garden App for free and start selling via an instant created mobile webshop on existing advertising networks such as IM's (eg. WhatsApp, Messenger), SoMe (eg. Facebook, Instagram) and web. And at the same time also get listed on the Sky.Garden marketplace (www.sky.garden).
Once a product has been ordered, Sky.Garden holds the money (in Escrow) and ensures that payment is released directly to the sellers mobile wallet when the buyer accepts the product on delivery. Delivery is fully automated in urban areas.
There's no cost upon entry or any hidden fees. Sky.Garden charge an 8% flat fee per transaction. A pure pay-as-you-go model.
At a glance:
- Out-of-the-box mobile webshop w. payment and shipping included
- 1 click checkout from content feeds
- Safe and secure handshake between seller and buyer
- Tapping into existing advertising platforms
- Only pay-as-you-earn
Our primary aim is to own e-commerce in urban cities in emerging markets. Secondary, we want to offer 6.1bn global smartphone users the opportunity to start their own business by 2020.
Sky.Garden went live with an Android App for SME's to start selling and a mobile website dedicated consumers in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 25th 2017. Below results are from February 8th 2017.
- 91 unique mobile webshops created
- 922 products uploaded
- 9 average transactions a day and climbing
- Average time from order confirmation to order delivery in Nairobi: 1h43m
Once the brand is established in Kenya, Sky.Garden will expand to the rest of Africa and simultaneously test in a developed urban area, eg. Copenhagen.